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Eventide Stories
INTRO These are a series of mini-stories set in the "Lizzy Eventide" universe. As the overall tale of the Lizzy Eventide chronology is not fully written, these are basically scenes that I've thought of over the years, and really wanted to write out. They are partly stream of consciousness, but I try to apply good writing into them. YEAR ONE Uneven Trade Timeline: First Year, Autumn “This is garbage!” The cream-yellow chameleon protested whilst pouting on her bed edge. To her left leaned her dark-green brother against a wall with arms folded, who only winced at this response before glancing to the third member of their party. The night-black feline flexed her digits out from her fingerless gloves. Gradually her fingers faded from sight. “Sweet… So how do I turn it off?” “You just tense up or relax really.” The brother shrugged. “It’s not that simple.” The irritated sibling mumbled out. “But yeah, something like that.” The feline fluttered her fingers a bit, but they did not reappear. “Okay well it’s not working.” The cream chameleon collapsed on her bed now. “Well yeah, you just got the ability. It’s not like you’re gonna be able to figure it all out right off the bat. Maybe if you just drained a little bit from me instead like we planned, it’d be easy to run.” “Tess, I didn’t mean to drain it all from you. I don’t absorb genetics much, and I usually just use the dagger for that. Did you want me to try stabbing you to get the power out?” The cream chameleon didn’t answer this at first, but as the two stared at her more, she sighed out “I’m thinking…” The vine-colored brother shook his head. “Tess, I’m sure it’ll come back. You just have to give it time. Lizzy, you’ve got enough for what, the day?” “Yeah, probably.” The feline looked to her hand, which was gradually becoming more invisible. “If I don’t start losing the power after a few days, we’ll know it was permanent.” “This is humiliating!” Tess flailed her arms upward for a moment before allowing them to slam back on to the cushioned mattress. She then proceeded to moan loudly, while her sibling and friend watched uncomfortably. “… I’m just gonna go…” Lizzy walked out of the room via phasing through the nearest wall. Tess was still groaning after the feline had departed. The black cat didn’t waste any time. It was much easier to activate the cloaking… camouflage—however this worked for anthropomorphic chameleons—than it was to de-cloak. Soon, Lizzy was completely unseen, and she had her target: a meeting between this “League” shadow-organization and some second party was about to go down in a rural building. With her phasing abilities and the addition of Tess’s cloaking, Lizzy would have no issue lingering around. Before she could do this, however, Lizzy had to see if she could reasonably record this meeting. Pulling out her Hyphen* (*a ipod/iphone-like device), Lizzy tested if she could stretch her invisibility to the object. It was very successful, but she noted to herself “Better not lose track of it since I can’t see it either…” Lizzy always kept a second Hyphen and phone just in case—one that didn’t have her parents’ number on it so they could call her in the middle of something stealthy—which she could afford luckily working at the gas stop. It was a little annoying to have to keep track of the Hyphen now that she couldn’t see it after it touched her. Couldn’t select the right buttons, which meant the feline had to practice more. All that aside, Lizzy eventually was ready and apparently well-ahead of the League. She didn’t know the exact house, but she did know the neighborhood. She kept her steps light, but was able to easy zip through dozens of houses in seconds without being noticed. The meeting probably wasn’t going to start yet, but Lizzy wasn’t going to risk missing anything. She was going back and forth through the houses when she made the unfortunate turn of running straight through someone in the shower. Immediately, the feline let out a yelp, tumbling and losing track of her phasing for the moment. She plopped on to some backyard, shivering for a moment while muttering out “ewewewewewwhy.” Lizzy got up to run off, but remembered her current state. Calming from the situation, she strolled into the nearest building, and continued the search. Some half hour later, she came across the target: a group of figures in black suits entering a family house. They wore blank masks, but had no dreadlocks like the typical echidnas she had run into. Counting, however, there were about twelve. The feline got her Hyphen recording and began moving about the cloaked figures. No one seemed to suspect her as they filled the living room. Lizzy perched herself on some bookcase. All things considered, the meeting was actually rather boring to listen to. They did give some good locations to scout, however, and one in particular involved transport of some kind of weapons. Lizzy had the time, so why not zip over? It only took a few minutes to find the address. Lizzy did have to put her phone down for a while so it decloaked a few times, but it was worth it. They were hiding the motherload in this depot store warehouse. Gradually, Lizzy took out her dagger—the faint purple and blue glow being the only thing visible from her person—and gave a chuckle while looking over all the crates. “Well if they’re leaving it out in the open…” The feline decimated rows of the contents. She would have taken care of it all if at least four long trucks were pulling up to the scene. Likely some of these were from the League organization. Lizzy couldn’t help but stick around to watch their faces react to her handiwork, and they did not disappoint. One of the League members actually took off his mask to better look at what happened. He went from shock to rage, demanding about “What happened here?! Cameras, now!” Lizzy had to cover her mouth as she chuckled to herself. ‘Oh, took care of those too, chief.’ She became slightly less humored when this other group of figures approached the scene: these tall Asian Lynxes. The contacts… They said nothing, but motioned for the League members to move out from the warehouse. The echidnas were not pleased, but their assumed leader—the one who had reacted so angrily—told them to wait outside. He became quite irritated when the lynxes motioned for him to go out as well, but he did so. Lizzy wondered what exactly the purpose of this was. All the same, she went back to recording the lynxes. They would give her plenty of intel to use for s- *SLICE* Lizzy felt two of her fingers go numb, then a stinging pain followed. Her Hyphen dropped and cracked against the floor. Before Lizzy could actually look over, three sharp objects struck her in the back, and punctured both her lungs. The black cat still didn’t see her body, and she hadn’t made noise, but as she collapsed, she caught sight of five of the lynxes surrounding her, and peppering her with the blades. Lizzy tried to phase into the ground, but found her stamina draining. Some kind of drug must have been on the blades. Lizzy wanted to scream, but given the state of her lungs, it was quite impossible. Without a word, she was picked up—body limp—and placed in some kind of grey zip-up bag. The drugs knocked her out, and she didn’t expect herself to wake up… When she did, Lizzy was still in the bag. One of the lynxes was standing over her, opening it slowly. Barely, Lizzy was able to look down. She was still invisible. It hadn’t run out. She couldn’t speak, even though the blades weren’t in her lungs anymore. The lynx left her where she was: on the side of the road on a highway. She couldn’t call for help, and no one would see her for hours at least. Reflection Timeline: First Year, Autumn It was late at night… Well incredibly early in morning to be quite accurate. The black cat walked to the kitchen and stuck her hand through the refridgerator: phasing through the matter and waving her digits to grasp the placement of the milk that always seemed to be in that location. Tonight it wasn’t there, and she was forced to open the door: causing the faint humming to get slightly louder, and the light to turn on. It was unlikely her parents would hear in their bedroom, but past events left a paranoia. She was almost an adult now. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t risk some hours lost of sleep. She’d be sleeping in tomorrow anyway so really what was there to bother her? “Hm,” A single huff of humored breath came out as she noticed the left light in the fridge blinking. ‘Hard to believe they haven’t gotten someone to fix that before I saw it’ she pondered while searching for her target. The milk was behind some items for once, in the back, not the door. ‘Weird’. She pulled it out, unscrewing the lid and prepared to guzzle down a sip right there, but paused: considering the option of a cup instead. Her teeth gnashed at the idea of having to maintain such manners with these people. Her thoughts kept getting more and more remote from her circumstance, and the blinking light became increasingly distracting. She was leaning for about a minute now, just staring at it, and softly muttering to herself. “What now?” She asked herself. “I won’t be here long for sure. Mph!” She shoved the door shut: milk jug still in hand. It was a thwap heard throughout the house but she couldn’t cling to a care at the moment. The flustered cat sat herself at a nearby counter, at some point having subconsciously gathered a cup and poured herself a fair amount. “Could just end it…” She pondered, taking a sip. What did ‘end it’ mean though? Her life? No, probably not. She wasn’t about to waste her own powers like that. “… Them?” She narrowed down. The thought had crossed her mind… a lot. “I don’t… they aren’t… “ She wanted to say they weren’t bad people but they were, so she settled on “They aren’t monsters.” Then she remembered what they did with her grandfather. She heard herself, her child self screaming while being dragged from him. The whole time, he was telling her it was okay. “They are monsters,” She spoke. “Every time… I used to love travelling but-“ “Only got yourself to blame,” She groaned, taking another sip. “You knew it was going to happen. You decided to make friendly with those two.” The twins. It was ridiculous but they were unbearably friendly. She suspected them the first time they met by how accepting at least Tess was of her. Then she remembered that first day, in the dark, saving them… and them finding out. “Had to… They knew… Couldn’t just kill them. Kind of defeats the purpose of trying to save the day.” SHING like a blade cutting through a wall, she heard the memory of all the petty criminals she did horrible things to. She almost never killed of course, but a severed hand or two- “I stopped that… mostly…” “I started cutting them without breaking them instead… like some kind of pyscho… Maybe that’s what I am.” “That’s not the point,” She sighed, pouring another drink. “I’ve… built things here…” “Like him?” “Don’t…” She couldn’t stop herself. Herself was already thinking about the adorable casual and perfect face. He really was such a nice guy, not that she was willing to get closer to him. Now she’d have to break the news. She heard them talking that it was time to move on. What she would have done to see them working in retail as poor people trying to make ends meet. Then she could… mock them, having her own job: the job she got on her own. “They deserve to pay,” She growled. Her hand fell through the counter, taking her out of the moment. She blinked, looking over her condition. She was fine. The cat took a breath. “… Overreacting… I just want… to stay…” “No one would know. Foster parents would work better than these.” “Not fair… Not…fair…they… Just want their plastic toy girl to do what they say and…” she sighed, “follow in their footsteps.” “They think it’s just a phase.” “They’re wrong.” “Too wrong… Just take things… into your own hands! Stop letting them hold you back!” The cat gasped, bracing her hands on the counter. The milk had spilled. She spent about twenty seconds panting before she saw a taller figure walk into the kitchen, turning a low light on. “Lizzy, what- oh,” Her mother sighed. “Well, clean it up.” Lizzy looked with wide eyes at her mother. The daughter wasn’t tearing up but she looked almost scared. Silently, she got off her chair and went to the sink: taking a towel to clean up. “Were you talking on your phone? Who was that?” Lizzy froze: hand curling at the drenched towel soaking up the white drink. Her other hand slowed to her lower leg: the small slot she often kept her strange dagger. “No one… I think…” Stealth Timeline: First Year, Autumn I didn’t actually expect it to be some secret underground base, and yet as soon as I decided to sneak inside, I somehow was still surprised that there wasn’t some secret button or elevator leading to below the ground. It just looked like a normal business office. Sure it was pretty wide, and about three stories tall, stylish and shiny but… normal. I had to scout it first of course. Took some DNA from some white cat lady I walked past so I didn’t look recognizable. Put on a hoodie and just paced around the outside for ten or so minutes. The annoying thing was the one-way windows. They were practically the entire outside walls, but the plants flailing around outside of it, and especially the mountain slope just behind it, would at least make it easy…easier to hide if needed. I decided to press up against one of the windows just in case. Y’know, sometimes they’re at least a little see-through from the other side. No dice. Made sure to make some funny faces just to defuse some suspicion if I needed to. I should’ve waited a day or two after that before trying to sneak in, but… no, wasn’t going to wait. I needed the address. So, I got my other hoodie, went back to my normal look, and ghosted through the ground some two dozen yards away. It’s not like I wasn’t used to measuring distances while phasing. I thought I’d just drop down honestly—y’know into a secret base underneath—but it never happened so I just slowly surfaced. It was 1 AM, not that I was particularly drowsy or anything. If anyone was still there, it would probably help my assumption… or maybe not; I never worked in business offices being… y’know, seventeen. League Enterprises. That’s what the company was called. Some kind of research company startup that popped in just a few months ago. You hire them to look up things, like the internet except with experts to make sure you’re finding the best dates or bounce houses or whatever. So in other words, they were hired to spy on people, just politely and in the sunlight. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were the crazy cult organization I was going after. It just looked like a typical office building where I started up, carpet included. The lights were off—at least on the floor I was on… or just the roo- there were a lot of walls so it was a little hard to tell—so that probably meant no one was here. Still, I pulled out my dagger just in case, and started creeping around each of the cubicles. It’s not like I would’ve known any of the passwords, and I wasn’t a hacker. Zen was a tech nerd, but I didn’t waste my breath asking him. He’d get all defense or whatever. It’s fine. I didn’t need anyone’s help… Felt kind of stupid when most of the computers had the passwords taped to the sides of the monitors. They probably didn’t have anything useful but at least I could turn them on. I started with the recycle bins. Not much. The Email though, that started to get me somewhere. Most of these were typical clients and stuff research-ordered being packaged to them. If any of these were co…bad-guys, uh- then there’d be some weird stuff somewhere, like the descriptions being vague or something. I did notice a few clients here and there that ordered a ton of stuff. I was only one computer in, so I took a picture to go through later for them. I’d go through five or so of the computers, then maybe look for the main office. That one would probably have an actual password. I couldn’t get the password on the main office, and I couldn’t make out too much from the files on hand. Most were reports on employees and manuals for running the AC. There had to been a warehouse section if they were moving things and delivering all the time, so I moved on. Wasn’t hard to get to the warehouse. It was just a bit to the left really. There was plenty of regular items packed up; looked like some kind of warehouse store with these freezers and all. “Better now than later I guess…” I started skimming through the pictures for anything that looked odd. Mostly I focused on the longer lists, and went down the item groups. They weren’t bundled together, which kind of made it a pain, but it’s not like I’d want to make it easy if I were them. There was a lot a food. I saw this bag of chips with my name on it, but before I could do some self-indulgence… I got stupid. Assuming these were the people I was after didn’t also make me wonder if maybe someone was still in the building. I popped open the chip bag then- Pop! Pop pop pap pop! Three in the back of my head, two on my back. Jerk got me on the side of the shoulder blade, which meant when I woke up, pushing it out would make it rub against the bone. When I woke up, I had to hold my breath for a second, and slowly start breathing quietly. Learned that a few headshots ago. Adapted to the whole memory loss part a few dozen before that. I was being carried in a plastic packaging bag, or more like on top of it. My vision cleared up to see I was in the warehouse part still, but my hearing was still coming back. “She doesn’t have ID. Just that knife and the Hyphen phone. The thing’s locked, but she probably recorded some stuff here.” An echidna… yeah, this had to be the place. He looked alone. I didn’t hear any other voices. I was going to slowly start moving so I could maybe kick off, but then the last bullet fell out, clanking against the cement floor. The guy nearly dropped me. He was holding me in some kind of cradling position. He just kind of froze a bit, then arched his neck at the bullet. Stupid. He didn’t look half-bad too. Pity. I bounced up, grappling my arms around his face and swinging my legs upward to pull him backward off balance. The guy had no time to react, falling and almost cracking his head. I had to let go for a split second and brace my feet on the ground so I could catch him. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t slice him up, but I could get some information first. Of course, he started to scream, so I kicked his legs. Sue me, I’m short and I couldn’t just reach his mouth. He stumbled a bit, so I grabbed his mouth and dug my claws into his cheeks, my other hand stuffing his pockets for weapons. “Same gun you shot me with, right? How many do you think it has left?” He didn’t answer. I just tossed the piece away. Wouldn’t need it anyway and I didn’t want anything loud to begin with. “Alright, which is it…?” I started giving some firm yanks to his quills. The guy just muffled out what I think was supposed to be “What are you doing?” “You’re not fooling me. I know you guys have brain chips or whatever in your quills. I’m gonna tear them all off until I find it.” “W-wait, no… just… what do you need?” He wasn’t even raising his hands… which meant he was- I shoved him forward, hitting his face on to the ground. “Are you stalling? If you are, then I’m going t-“ “What were you looking for?” “Oh nothing. I just found out a day or two ago that I have another family member, and you sickos have them locked up somewhere. Now, I know I probably only have five minutes, so if you tell me before your friends get here, I won’t cut you up.” “I’m mainly security. I don’t handle delivery.” “But you check what goes in and out, so just tell me the most important address, and we’ll be good.” He was shaking now, his breathing getting all hard. Honestly I felt bad for him. He was trying to be brave and not spill his guts. They idiots had some weird cause they believed in, but I guess it wasn’t as important as surviving because after I walked back over and picked up my dagger, he didn’t even try to run off. He just rose his hands and rambled off some addresses. “… Yeah I’m not gonna remember all that. Hold on.” I turned on my mic on the Hyphen phone. “Okay, say that again?” He got halfway through the addresses when I heard doors opening elsewhere in the building. He shut up after that and closed his eyes. He sort of met his end of the bargain I guess. I mean, he got through the whole list the first time before they got here so I guess it counted. I had the knife at his head still, but then he just blubbered out “I love you, Fiona.” That… great, the scumbag had a girlfriend… No, no, focus! I held him in place as I went to his back. “Alright, deal’s a deal… but I found out from some before you that if I remove the chip now, your memory will get messed up for the past day or so… and I can’t have you remembering me.” “No!” He jumped up, nearly clocking me in the jaw if I didn’t just kick him back down. “Yeah, I know. It was my own fault for letting my guard down, but you shot me like five times.” The other echidnas were there seconds later. Their comrade was on the floor drooling with blood seeping out from his quill nubs, all of which were sliced off. What they didn’t notice were the five bullets and the gun being carefully pulled through the ground. YEAR TWO Displaced Community Timeline: First Year, Late Autumn The yellow chameleon, the black skunk, and the black cat; they were all together in the skunk’s newly-repaired car. Memberlake St. was the area they drove to. None of them seemed to have any particular recollection or personal connection to the place. Jack lived the furthest out of the city, and it took him almost an hour to drive them all there. “Well we’re here now,” The cat promptly stated whilst exiting the vehicle as one would had there been a stench they were holding their breath from the entire time. In this case, it was simply the chatty and awkward discussion during the trip that deterred her, which would have only been lessened slightly if it were not intended to mask an interruption of a restated lie concerning who had a crush on whom. These were topics Lizzy had no desire to embark on socially whatsoever. “But seriously, I don’t know why people complain about how many there are,” The chameleon kept going: restating once more her opinions on the plethora of law-enforcement television shows. She only stopped now because she was realizing just how… surreal and… haunting their new location appeared. Tess just got out of the vehicle and immediately wanted back in, but the others were already walking forward anyway. The neighborhood was incredibly quiet, and a thick fog filled most of the scenery. It was rather high up in the city: near some suburban mountains, but clearly not on the lively side. The houses looked as though they had been kept up nicely enough, but something was faintly off about them. “These… do these…” The skunk peered, turning his head horizontal back and forth as he distracted himself, “look… stretched to you guys? Just barely?” As they got further into the fogged series of buildings, his long-sleeved grey shirt seemed less warming. He tucked his hands into his dark blue jean pockets. “A little taller I guess,” Lizzy shrugged: fixing her long grey scarf she kept tied around her upper arm. She didn’t seem to care what the temperature was. Her hands passed her purple tank-top and purple skirt to her grey boots: pressing a small metal hilt further down from view. “Mystery Man’s somewhere here,” her eyes rolled with a groaning growl. Tess made sure to stay close between the two. She had her own long green sweater on, and black pants: doing her some comfort. “Why is he here?” She whined. “More like ‘why can’t he just answer his phone’…” Lizzy growled once more as the three were now nearly a block into the seemingly empty neighborhood of his nearly mid-day winter’s start. “Could be off,” Jack guessed. “Maybe it’s broken. You said he comes here every weak, right?” “Yeah…” “Probably wants some privacy.” “How cute… tch, Sorry you had to drive us here, Jack,” She didn’t sound particularly saddened while making this apology, but the feline had no reason to not be genuine, so the skunk took it as honest. “Got nothing else to do right now, and I need the recorded driving hours after what… happened.” “Oon,” Tess winced: distracted from the intimidation of the environment for the moment. “Sorry you had to go through that.” He shrugged. “I’ll get through it… I’ll need you guys to sign off as witnesses for the hours I did though.” “La-…ter,” Lizzy stopped as they came to a slight clearing of the fog. It was still quite thick, but they could at least see far ahead of themselves now. A large parking lot… well large being around 120 yards wide, and… well across at least double that it seemed. Very faint sinks in the pavement were about, as were noticeable cracks. No cars were parked. In fact, a very eye-catching chain reading “No Trespassing” was hung in front of the drive-entrance. Tess found it very unnerving when a long uphill and downhill forest, with ditches and small canyons, could be seen at the far left of the parking lot. She didn’t go a step further once she saw it. “C’mon, Tess,” Lizzy urged: taking the cream-yellow chameleon’s hand and dragging her forward. Tess gave a small whine as they went. “That’s a horror title there,” Tess sheepishly joked, “Three Teens In A Haunted Parking Lot-“ “Church,” Jack corrected. He pointed to the right. Both girls glanced over and saw it. Wood and concrete: old and abandoned. It looked still in good shape, but as empty as the rest. The wood was so pale that it didn’t even give a dark impression. The large cross at the front of the building’s side was barely visible with how similar it shaded to the fog. “…Okay, I’m calling out names now,” Lizzy cupped her hands to her mouth and called out the name. “CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLS!” Jack joined in but Tess was still very reluctant. She began receiving flashbacks of a very old horror game her brother had played when they were younger. It also involved a search in a mist-covered city, and the results were far from pleasant. Strangely enough, the more she thought about their strange friend being there, the more she realized she felt safer if she knew where he was. They were all calling for him now. Eventually they stopped when a figure started walking toward them from the back of the parking lot. Lizzy didn’t approach yet. She wasn’t going to let her guard down till she saw his face. A male fox with pale brown-orange fur; he wore a grey turtleneck top with a black jacket around him—unzipped—with black jeans and black shoes. Unlike Lizzy’s grey finger-gloves and grey arm-glove, his black gloves didn’t appear very fashion-based. He always had that striking appearance piece however: his glazed over eyes, and the black shades that hung over them. He did not sound particularly joyful at their arrival when he prompted “Yes?” “What are y- what are you doing here?” Lizzy had paused with the faint suspicion of some other-wordly works, but her better nature prevailed: forcing her to believe this was a simple matter of the blind fox being incredibly odd…as per usual. “I don’t think anyone’s ever really been humored by someone responding to their question with a question, Lizzy,” The fox taunted with his unchanging expression. Jack and Tess were silent, though this was due to their distraction with the architecture. Lizzy shook her head with irritation before answering “Fine! I’m here to find out if you had all the file stuff finished and ready for us.” “Out in public, right next to someone thankfully too distracted to understand what you just said,” He replied: his tone going to a whisper as to not become a hypocrite with his own words. “Do you have it ready or not?” The feline grumbled. The fox didn’t immediately answer. He was looking to Jack for a bit, and Jack eventually noticed: his expression prompting a desire for an explanation for this stare, which he did not receive as Chells looked back to Lizzy. “What’s your Email?” “What fo- oh.” “So I can stalk you t-“ “I get it, smart guy,” She snapped. “purpledagger@K-O-L.” “… Subtle… friendly… also subtle-“ “You know, if I wanted to constantly get insulted, I could just-“ “But you wanted to find me so badly and I did say this was my own ‘alone time’ in a sense. I guess you could say I’m ‘miffed’.” Lizzy was becoming too curious about the area to really get more annoyed, so she just asked “What is this all exactly?” “Feels strange, doesn’t it?” “Uh, yeah,” Jack added with a near scoff. “This whole neighborhood is strange-“ “Not to mention empty,” Tess jolted in. “Like, unpopulated, VACANT???” “Well that’s not something I could really tell you about,” The fox shrugged off. “Feels like it’s from some different kind of world I imagine? The doors are a bit taller. If you were to go inside, you might even notice the pews aren’t the right length… everything’s…” his hands gave a little upward twitch “bigger.” Without anything else, Chells began walking past the group. As he passed by Lizzy, she noted “Y’know, you’re really creepy when you want to be.” “You asked, I answered,” He replied, still making his way toward the exit of the parking lot. “… Did you drive here?” Jack asked. “I didn’t see any cars.” “No, I didn’t drive here,” Chells replied, still walking. The others—with Lizzy being the last to do so—eventually followed after him. “So you walked?” Jack guessed. “… Sure.” “You want a ride back?” The fox stopped, back still turned to them. “Is that an offer?” “Yeah, if you can be polite about it.” “… Then I accept it. Thank you,” The fox’s course changed. They hadn’t told him where the car was, but he met them there soon after. Tess waited until the car was starting up again to ask “But really, what is this place about? Do people actually live here?” “Not for many… many years,” Chells answered. The four were soon out of the fog-filled mountain neighborhood, but as they got closer to the rest of the city, they noticed the downtown section of Lexistropolis was… on fire. Some kind of letter engraved in the massive carnage. A massive… “V” Tour Call Timeline: Second Year, Spring The phone rang for a minute almost before he finally picked it up, a groggy “Hello?” forced out as he wasn’t awake enough to open his eyes and read the caller ID. “… You were sleeping,” She realized immediately, sighing immediately after. “Thought it would’ve been morning there if it was night here.” “Well… It,” He rubbed his eyes a bit, trying to focus on the turquoise light that made the hotel’s alarm clock. “It’s uh… 4:32 so technically…” “… Sorry.” “No, it’s good- it’s fine,” He said quickly before he had to yawn. “Wa’tchu need?” “Well… uh- how’s the tour going?” “Pretty good. I’m not blown away with the audience’s response, but we’re hardly the biggest thing nowadays.” “You will be soon enough… Lo-look, Jack, I’m… I’m really sorry- I didn’t really explain much about not going with you.” “It’s okay-“ “Doesn’t mean you don’t deserve an explanation.” He knew she wasn’t going to feel better until she got it off her chest, so he straightened up against the back of the bed, and replied “Alright, go ahead.” “It wasn’t because I didn’t want to go with. I’ve just got a whole lot of other responsibilities back here…” She was trying desperately in her head to come up with something that would explain further without revealing what these responsibilities were, but it ended up as a long pause before he replied “I understand.” She sighed again. “If only…” “What?” “N- no! Not like that, I meant, it’s just really complicated is all…” “Is this about your family?” His hand tensed just a bit, testing the waters of his question, preparing for a spat but a cynical chuckle, or scoff, sounded back from her. “Yeah, that’s not helping for sure… This isn’t about me,” Her tone rose slightly. He knew a nerve was hit, but he wasn’t aware that she was angry at herself, not him. “I don’t have a good excuse here. Nothing I’d say would fix that I should have come with.” “Did you actually want to?” “Yes, yes, I really did- I do, but… I just wish I could. That’s the risk of getting close to someone.” “It won’t be too long,” He tried to comfort. “In a few weeks we’ll be back and we can go do something.” “Yeah… I guess… I’ll just be here, spending a few weeks-… forget it.” “… Uh- look, I want to talk more about this, but Dave’s telling me to stop talking so he can sleep.” “Sharing a room?” “Kind of. He’s on the floor. He found it a bit too creepy to be in the same bed- now he’s getting a bit angrier.” “Alright, I’ll let you go… I’ll make it up to you when you get back. That’s going to be a while but there’s got to be something-“ “Lizzy, you care. I get that. You don’t need to prove it, I believe it already.” “… Okay. G’night.” “… Night.” Disarticulation Timeline: Second Year, Fall A silver cat with bob-cut blonde hair walked up to an ordinary house. It was a single story, pale cream with a brown roof and a well-kept front yard. The girl had a black low-cut top with a red cover piece making a triangular shape, and a black skirt to match. She stepped up to the front door, but before she could knock or ring a doorbell—which she couldn’t find—someone called to her from behind. “Hey Zelda!” “Nzelde…” The cat sighed out to herself. She turned around to some other girl approaching her. “Oh…” She was a dark brown lynx with a black jacket on, a dark murky green tank top underneath, baggy pants, and a distinct flopping hat with a gold belt piece at the front. Her hair was just as black as her stripes. “You’re… Ira.” “I’m Ira. Waddup?” The lynx sort of leaned back with her hands in her jacket pockets: strolling right over. “I… You don’t live near here…” “Nope.” The contrast was palpable. Nzelde stared with a raised brow and a lower one: leaning back with hands at her side poised cautiously. Ira just grinned back plainly, brows raised expectantly, and leaning back with hands still in her pockets. It was quiet for a second or two. “… Why… are-“ “I followed you… Well I followed about a minute ago. Before that, I was just hanging around.” “Why did you follow me?” “Uh, cause I recognized you? Is this your house or something?” “No. I was just asked to come here.” “By your… big sis? Who lives here?” Ira cupped her hands over her eyes to check through a window. "Looks empty.” Nzelde remained stiff in front of the door while Ira started going over to the backyard entrance. The silver cat pulled out her phone and began dialing, but then Ira came back to the front. “Nobody’s in the back either.” Ira resumed her relaxed posture in front of Nzelde, and didn’t appear to notice how incredibly cautious the feline was acting until a second or two later, at which point she leaned in, and started repeatedly pushing the doorbell. Nzelde winced more with every ring. Her ears kept going flatter against her head, and when they couldn’t further, they just sort of bounced. Ira kept ringing, even after Nzelde said “You can stop now please!” After twenty rings in, not a sound came from the other side. Ira leaned back into her pockets once again. “Patient folks… if they’re home. So you plan to juuuuust stand in front till someone appears?” “No…” The silver cat wouldn’t look at Ira directly. “Youuuuuuu gonna tell me what this is all about?” “Why?” Nzelde made a stern face and folded her arms. “It’s nothing to do with you, is it?” Ira just shrugged with a sort of chuckle scoff. “You haven’t told me anything, so how would I know?” She crouched a bit, cupping the side of her cheek. “Is it drugs? We hunting for drugs?” “The house… doesn’t belong here.” Ira looked perplexed now, and Nzelde turned away again. “Doesn’t… belong here… Okay, so… like the house just appear- y’know what…” The lynx grabbed hold of the doorknob. Nzelde tried to say that it’s locked, but Ira easily opened it up. “Hey, don’t worry, we can’t all have that firm grip.” Nzelde stood at the door while Ira strolled right in. The lynx jogged loudly toward a wide backyard door, then back. “Looks super normal. Come on, you were gonna be in here in the first place, right?” Ira didn’t wait long for Nzelde to follow before jogging to the right side of the house next. She called back “So how’d you know this was out of place or whatever?” Nzelde gingerly entered the house: crouching with her head looking back and forth despite her acquaintance making their presence known. “I… My sister found it out and said I should come check it out with her. I was going to call her, but then you showed up.” The silver feline turned to where Ira went. There was an out of place contrasting wall and doorway to the rest of the building’s color. Inside was a sort of office/bedroom by the looks of it. It was rather messy. “Do you see anything weird? Ira?” Nzelde stopped exploring. “Ira?” She went to grab her phone again only to realize she still had it in a death grip. Nzelde started dialing. No service. She wasn’t going to wait for whatever came next. She ran right out of the house, and didn’t stop running for a few blocks, then she dialed again. Service… voice mail. She didn’t have Ira’s phone number, so that was also out of the question. The silver cat stepped slowly back toward the house. Once it was in view, she jerked to the left behind a sign to be out of its… sight. She went around a few houses: climbing a tree nearby to look into the back yard. It was perfectly ordinary. “Ira!” Nzelde had to whisper, but she may as well have yelled seeing as she had to make it loud enough to carry. Of course, the lynx didn’t respond if she was there. Nzelde sort of whined: groaning to herself while slumped on one of the branches. She didn’t exactly build up courage as much as motivation to jump into that yard, but regardless, she did jump. As soon as she landed on the partly-dead grass, she made a dash behind this fenced-off flower bed and crouched behind a thicker part of the plants. No one was approaching. No one from the neighborhood seemed to notice either. In fact, Nzelde didn’t hear or see any kind of movement. Somehow this didn’t help her nerves, but this house had Lizzy somewhere, or someone did something with her…and Ira probably, so the silver cat exited her hiding place and went to the back screen door: sliding it slowly open. Ira went into that left side of… it wasn’t on the left side of the house, it was on the right… but now it was on the left. Nzelde opened the door, and started going through the scattered papers around. Nothing of importance. A lot were instructions for hardware, old computers, receipts… but it got her thinking. “The computer…” It was half-hidden in the papers, but she got it booted up. She didn’t recognize the company logo when it booted up, but the letters for the keyboard were normal. The language was the same. It didn’t have a password. There was some kind of chat system that booted up when the main screen did, with a list of contacts. Some read as being online. Nzelde selected one of the contacts—some guy named Jeff Colburn—and typed out “Hi.” A thud came out from somewhere else in the house, the first sound made since she got there. Scrambling, Nzelde turned the screen off and ran over behind the bed. Papers flew up a bit from the air she kicked up. “Settle settle settle pleeeeeeease…” She held her knees and waited. No one came, and after a minute, Nzelde stepped out. She went over to the computer, turned the screen on, then hit send. The message sort of flickered a bit, glitching in place. It only moved halfway from the typing window to the chat area. Nzelde sent another greeting. The same result followed. With a huff, she stepped back: folding her arms and looking about- She jolted. She stomped her foot out of instinct and span about the room. This was a completely different house. The computer was a laptop, lying atop a- “Ek!” Nzelde fell on the side of her head, luckily cushioned by the top of a mattress. She was sitting on a white queen-sized bed. The room was wide and clean, grey and white. It looked wealthy. “This… they got sent here?” Nzelde hopped off the bed and dashed out of the room. This building was definitely bigger than the suburban house she was at before. She was having trouble finding the front door, but she knew she wasn’t going to stay in this place long. The feline went down a flight of stairs, across a large hall, and past some living room. Just like before, she didn’t really hear or see anyone. All the same, she found the front door, and without thinking far ahead, yanked it open and darted outside. There was no ground outside. Nzelde had to yank herself back through the doorway before she fell straight into some kind of void. She landed on her side again, and scurried backward till she was touching a wall opposite to the front door. The young teen stared back out through the rectangular exit. It was this black void, and frankly, she didn’t care to look at it much longer. She got up, and went to close the door, which is when she noticed some shapes in the distance. Trees. There were actually quite a number. It was a wood, a forest, and they just floated still on surface level with no floor to support them. They didn’t drift or turn. It was like this whole area was frozen with some invisible space around it. Nzelde decided to experiment, and reached her foot out to step on the nothing ground. To her disappointment, nothing braced her heel below. It seemed the trees only stayed where a floor had once been, but no longer was. The cat had to wonder “Did Lizzy fall through here?” It had been at least an hour since her sister told her to come here. She could have been falling all that time, or… or hit something below. Nzelde was breathing so was this out in space or something else? “… Ira!” It had been maybe five minutes since she vanished. The lynx had to be somewhere. Nzelde started running around the empty house, yelling for Ira’s name. She received no reply, but while passing through the kitchen, Nzelde saw one of the chairs partially just fading out. One of the legs was half gone, yet like the trees, it remained in place… but it was… slowly… vanishing. “Wait… wait wait no…” The cat ran to the front door again. The trees were the same as before. She ran to one of the rooms. Nothing there was gone. She ran to the bedroom she came from. Half the room was an empty black space, and it was getting closer to the laptop. Nzelde grabbed the laptop, but it began fading too from the right side across. She moved it out of the room, but it didn’t slow. “No please, come on!” She pressed it against the closest wall and tried to open the chat room, but the contacts portion was already gone. The mouse was working but she couldn’t drag the window anywhere. She typed a few keys and hit enter, but nothing happened. She was still in the big mansion house. Screaming, Nzelde threw the laptop. It stopped in the air as soon as she let go, so she struck it: punching a hole right at the spine before running off in a frenzy. She had to find something to let her back out. This couldn’t be the only computer in the house. Nzelde gradually found herself in this gymnastic obstacle course: jumping to stable areas of this fading out architecture. The higher parts of the building seemed to be fading faster, so she went for the bedrooms on the first floor. There were only two, and neither had a computer. The fading was getting farther along, and Nzelde found herself slumped against one of the bedroom walls: alone in a place that was about to vanish, and take her with it. It was so quiet… and so lifeless… except… …there was this sort of sustained pitch. It was faint, and Nzelde couldn’t hear it from upstairs, but it made her ears twitch. Sniffing in and wiping an eye, she stood up and stepped carefully in search. It was coming from this side-yard doorway. Nzelde found a garage. The pitch was louder now. There was this minivan. It had to be coming from there. She threw open the door. Sitting on the front passenger seat was a cell phone. The ceiling of the garage was fading now. Nzelde snatched the phone and flipped it open. She looked through the contacts. Maybe something would help her get to the suburb house, but no such luck. She didn’t recognize the names. She didn’t want to risk just picking a random place. It could already be faded out… but this was a phone… with a signal. A short black cat with black hair, wearing a purple top and skirt was sitting in what looked to be a trailer park house. The outdoors were completely gone, and half the building had vanished with it. The cat looked more frustrated than scared. She had already lost track of any computers to use, but while trying to think of a plan, her phone made a ding sound. Instantly, the black cat looked at her phone screen. Someone was telling her to call a specific number. She didn’t recognize the number, but whatever. She dialed, called, then fell on her rump atop a pool table. “Lizzy!” The black cat had no time to react when her taller sister practically tackled her off the table: hugging tightly. Lizzy almost cut Nzelde with her trusty dagger: quickly sheathing it again in her boot when she realized. “What… is going on here?” Was her main question. “We keep going to different places connected to some chat room or something.” Nzelde explained after releasing her sibling. “We just have to find a way to get back to the first house you called me from, and we can get out.” “O…kay… so we just-“ “I have a list.” Lizzy rose an eyebrow, then looked at her phone as a list of contacts started dinging in. “… Okay, let’s do this together so we don’t get split up- oof!” Nzelde hugged Lizzy again. “Hey… hey, it’s fine…” The short cat tried to comfort with minimal breath. “Let’s just… get out of here…” It took a bit of time, but about twelve contacts later, the two cats were running out of the suburban house: the door slamming against the wall behind them. The girls knelt down, panting a bit before looking back. The house was still there. “… Weird…” Lizzy cocked her head, analyzing the building. “I thought maybe it’d fade like the others…” “Yeah, i- Oh, Ira!” Nzelde ran up to enter the house, but Lizzy grabbed her arm. “Whoa, hold up! What about Ira?” “She went with me, but we got separated!” Lizzy leaned her head back with a long sigh. “… Great… Okay… let’s… ugh.” The girls were a step away from the doorway when they heard someone call them from the right of the house “Hey, you guys get any signal yet?” Ira was standing at the sidewalk about a house down. The girls just looked at her with bewildered expressions, but Lizzy got out of her trance long enough to look at her phone. “Uh… yeah.” Play Traitor Timeline: Second Year, Winter Lizzy, Zen, Tess, and Siera were sitting in the blonde chipmunk’s new college dorm. After graduating, Siera had invited Tess and her friends to hang out between the semesters, if only because they hadn’t actually gotten to see her dorm yet. It was evening, with each gripping a warm drink as they lounged the couches. They had intended to play games or watch a movie, but the conversation had become too engaging to start on the intended activities. “I guess the scariest thing that happened to me was… honestly it’s hard to choose from all that’s happened this last year.” The green chameleon shook his head. “Honestly I feel like nothing scares me at this point, but… not in a good way. Like, I’d prefer to be scared because, because at least then, I can react and try to defend myself. Now?” “You feel like you’ll get stabbed in the shoulder, and you won’t feel it, or you will but you won’t have reacted to stop it?” The black cat offered. “Pretty much.” “You’re all way too depressing.” Siera sighed. “I should have expected a bunch of vigilante justice ‘super heroes’ would have something dark or depressing as opposed to ‘Oh no, spiders!’.” “Well, Tess hasn’t said anything yet.” Zen rolled his head to his sister in a tired fashion. The yellow chameleon immediately sat down her drink and stiffened in the face of all the faces. “… Well, I mean, it’s not because of all this ‘crime-fighting’ stuff, but it’s weird. Y-you’ll just think it’s weird.” “Yeah. Weirder than a spirit in your family heirloom that whispers to you sometimes.” Lizzy immediately dismissed. Seeing her friend turning away at this comment, the feline winced a bit. “… Alright, what is it, Tess?” Tess didn’t actually want to share about this, contrary to how open she normally was in social interactions. After a few seconds of no one moving on, she accepted her fate. “I wasn’t really scared exactly. It was kind of like an… what’s the wo- elongated! It was like an elongated jump-scare; like someone jumping in your face and going ‘boo!’ but you’re kind of stuck in that moment of confusion.” Siera peered a bit. “Wait… I think I know where this is going. Meredith?” Tess nodded, but her brother asked “Meredith? Wait, we haven’t seen her in like, two years?” “You don’t know what happened?” Siera’s peer went tighter, now focused on the male twin of the two chameleons. “I never asked? People change frien-“ “Okay, what happened, Tess?” Lizzy held her arms out. Tess leaned back now. “We went to a play. I don’t really remember the name. Meredith invited me- she invited both of us. Siera was there too.” “So I was there?” inquired Zen. “Yeah. Meredith was sitting next to me while we watched. It was a nice play; holiday romance and all that. They started to sing at one point, and I started to hear Meredith singing with the people on stage. I didn’t really know the words, but I decided to follow along anyway. Meredith kept looking at me with this smile, and I thought she just wanted me to sing too. I smiled back while following, but then I saw her stand up. I didn’t get what was happening. Honestly I thought maybe she was going to dance, but she just walked up on to the stage… then I noticed she had one of those ear-piece thingies.” “So… she was part of the play?” Lizzy asked. “And that’s what scared me…” Tess sighed after a good ten seconds, seeing that she would need to explain further. “I felt… tricked. It was like a mean trick, that’s what I thought at least. One second, I was just with a friend, and we were being casual, but it turned out she didn’t just want me there as a friend. She wanted me to be at something she was a part of, and she hid that from me. I felt used… I know! I know it sounds silly! I know it- it’s an overreaction. I couldn’t stop thinking about how she could pull off her face and show she was an alien or something… and I didn’t… really talk to her much after that. The worst part is that she didn’t talk to me either. I avoided her a bit and she picked up, but she didn’t try to talk to me. She probably didn’t want to hurt my feelings. She moved on, literally moving away, and I’m probably just a faint memory now.” Tess stood up now, and walked to the exit of the dorm. “I still feel kind of angry and… tense when I think about it. I know I shouldn’t…” Category:Stories